Review Revue: The Monochrome Set – Eligible Bachelors

I swear I don’t go combing through the KEXP stacks looking for LPs from English bands I’ve never heard – my main criterion is records with a good amount of stickers on their covers, preferably with some kind of scintillating debate – but you’d be forgiven for thinking that was my prime motivation. Regardless of intentions, I have found myself exposed to some very interesting artists over the years that I likely wouldn’t have heard any other way, and I hope you feel the same.

The Monochrome Set formed over thirty years ago, but have completely altered their lineup, broken up, and reformed with their original lineup multiple times over the years. Most recently, three founding members Bid, Lester Square, and Andy Warren joined up with a couple more musicians to record 2012’s Platinum Coil, the band’s tenth studio album. I listened to a few tracks of Eligible Bachelors and then cued up the new one, and I can report that longtime fans of the band – including, it would seem, just about everyone at KCMU in late 1982 – should be pleased. It looks like they’re hitting the east coast this spring for their first US shows since 1982. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another decade or more for a Seattle gig.